DURHAM – Ever wondered what it looks like when four years of frustration against a hated rival get paid back all in one night?

It looks a lot like what happened Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke’s 82-50 humiliation of North Carolina wasn’t the worst beating the Blue Devils have ever put on the Tar Heels, though it came close. And it didn’t completely erase the disappointment upperclassmen Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek have endured at the hands of UNC throughout their careers.

But it sure made for an enjoyable way to go out in style.

The three seniors and their determined teammates couldn’t have drawn up a better script than the one that played out before an even more emotional than usual sellout crowd of Crazies.

Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith each hit 3-pointers on their team’s first three shots to get Duke off to a flying start and the Blue Devils took off from there.

It was like going to the aquarium and watching a tank full of piranha devouring a piece of red meat as the score began to multiply and the feeding frenzy began.

By the time it was over and the bonfires had been ignited, coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team not only had its first home win against UNC since 2005, but a share of its first ACC regular-season title since 2006

Duke will be the No. 1 seed at the league’s postseason tournament next week in Greensboro.

“I don’t know what else you could ask for,” said Scheyer, wearing a t-shirt designed by Singler commemorating his team’s 17-0 record at Cameron this season. “Obviously we really wanted to win this game.

“We didn’t want to assume anything just because it was our Senior Night, because we had to win to be ACC champions or be undefeated at home. We just wanted to come out and impose our will.”

In doing so, the Blue Devils (26-5, 13-3 ACC) may finally have disproved the old myth about throwing out the records in rivalry games.

Whatever confidence and momentum the struggling Tar Heels had built in their two previous wins against Wake Forest and Miami last week was all but gone by the time Duke had built a 31-9 lead by the midway point in the first half.

UNC’s body language both on the court and the bench suggested it was going to be a long night, and they weren’t about to get any sympathy from the Devils. Not after the Tar Heels spoiled the last two Cameron Senior Nights they’d been invited to attend.

This wasn’t just a game. It was personal.

“Mission accomplished,” said junior Nolan Smith, one of three Duke players to score 20 or more points. He and Scheyer had 20. Singler added 25 while Zoubek continued his late surge by scoring eight points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

“Everybody that came into the game played as if it was their Senior Night. That’s just a great feeling. Everybody had the emotion, the passion, the fire the seniors had. When we hit those first three 3-pointers, it was kind of like, here we go.”

As good as the Blue Devils were offensively, they were even better on the defensive end of the court.

Duke held UNC to 33 percent shooting from the floor (1 of 5 on 3-pointers) and showed an amazing efficiency in scoring 27 points off the Tar Heels’ 15 turnovers. While they were credited with only five blocks, the Blue Devils contested nearly every shot on their way to their biggest win in the series since a 35-point blowout in Chapel Hill in 1964.

It was the kind of blowout in which the opposing coach can’t do much more than shake his opponents’ hands and congratulate them on a job well done – which is what UNC’s Roy Williams did. But Williams took it a step further by proclaiming this Duke team the best he’s seen in his seven seasons since returning to his alma mater.

“To me, they don’t have any holes,” Williams said afterward.

If that’s the case, then why for the first time in anyone’s memory did the Blue Devils choose to cut down the nets at Cameron in celebration of a regular-season title, instead of waiting for a more memorable championship later down the road?

Because, as Scheyer explained, it wasn’t a statement that this group of players is satisfied with what they’ve already accomplished. It was more a celebration of how far they’ve progressed since that stinging first-round NCAA tournament loss to Virginia Commonwealth as freshmen.

They say they’re still as hungry as ever.

But after four years of eating crow against their hated rival, they can be excused for taking a little time to savor this tasty appetizer before coming back to the table for what they hope will be the main course.